Reading Assignment: Matthew 18:1-11
Truth: Saving faith is a childlike faith.
Key verse: Matthew 18:3
Overview of the passage:
1. Children
2. Protection
3. Angels
Prayer:
1. Seek a childlike faith. Confess where there is skepticism and protest.
2. Remove stumbling blocks.
3. Don’t be a stumbling block. Be a great example of faith to others.
Transcript
Let's pray and we'll begin.
Lord, You are God. You are eternal. You are enthroned above the earth, and You see from beginning to end. There is nothing hidden from Your sight. And as we approach You this morning, we are mindful that You are the God who orders the history of the world. You are the God who knows the end from the beginning. And so we come to You with humility in our hearts, wanting to learn from You, who can see all things, who knows all things. And we ask that You would teach us, that You would grant to us wisdom that comes from above, the wisdom that lasts forever. Enable us to live faithfully as Christ’s disciples. Teach us to trust You heartily and train us to live fruitfully because we have heeded Your word. So, we seek Your wisdom this morning and ask that You would teach us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
The next passage to be read is Matthew 18:1-11, and the truth that I want to underscore here is this: Saving faith is childlike faith. Our key verse for today is found in verse 3, where Jesus says, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” We're going to unpack the meaning of this verse in a little bit. In terms of the entire passage, let me give us an overview. Jesus begins to talk about children who believe. That's the first idea: children. Then He also talks about the protection of those children from stumbling into sin and error. And then finally He talks about angels who minister to those little ones, ever ready to come to their aid according to God’s direction. So, here is what we have for this morning: children, protection, and angels.
First, the children. As I said earlier, these are children who believe. The setting that sparks this discussion is interesting. The disciples shamelessly asked Jesus about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They are jockeying for position. They're trying to find a way to have the best seat in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus takes this moment as an opportunity to teach them a lesson on not only humility, but also on who enters the Kingdom of heaven. He does so with an object lesson. He calls a little child to Himself. This child listens to Jesus and dutifully comes to Him. Then He says the words of verse three. He says, “unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” If you take those words literally without any context, you may get the wrong idea that only children go to heaven. Of course, there's more meaning here than that. So then, in what sense is the Lord saying that we must become like children? He elaborates on this in verse four. He says, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” The whole issue here has to do with humility. There's another sense in which we are to be like children that comes up in verse 6. There Jesus speaks of “children who believe in Me.” We are to be like children in our humility and faith. Now, it's important to remember that Jesus isn't talking about children in general. He is talking about children who believe in Him. I give that qualification because not every child is humble. There are some children who are spoiled, and so even in their childhood, they demand things and they think that everybody exists to serve them somehow. And they do not think of themselves as lowly and they do not humble themselves. Furthermore, not every child believes in Christ. But Jesus is here talking about children who do believe in Him, those children who are humble enough to listen to what He tells them. In this scene, when Jesus told this child to come to Him, he dutifully came. Jesus is saying that those who enter the kingdom of heaven believes in Christ like children. Even like this one child who listens to Jesus without protest and without argument. The child has a wholesale trust in Christ. He doesn’t question Jesus. He doesn’t nitpick, like what a typical adult does. He accepts everything Jesus says. This is the kind of faith Jesus is talking about here. And He is saying that adults need to become like them in terms of their faith and their disposition toward the Lord. This means that the believer’s response to Jesus’ words is always, “Yes, Lord.” He says, “Go do this,” and we say, “Yes, Lord,” and we go do it. We don't question Him. We don't doubt His directive. We don't nitpick. We don't ask for this detail or that detail. We don’t bargain with Him. There is no back and forth with Him. We just listen to Him and do as He says. We believe what He says, and we do what He commands us. There is a certain purity about the faith of children who believe in Christ, and this is what Jesus is saying, that everyone who enters heaven is to have that kind of pure childlike faith.
But that purity can also be deeply damaged, when wicked people come along and they influence believing children and teach them the wrong thing. Children can also easily be led astray. So Jesus warns against these types of bad influences, and he calls them stumbling blocks. Jesus speaks to make sure that the little ones who believe in Him are protected. This brings us to the second section on protection. Jesus says in verse 6 that anyone who stumble one of these little ones who believe in Him (that is, to stumble into sin), it is better for that person to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. That's a pretty graphic picture. Jesus meant it to be graphic. He is irate at those who would stoop so low to lead little children to sinful things. And Jesus says there is a serious condemnation for those who do such a thing. This reveals to us what is in the heart of Jesus. In the heart of Christ is a profound protectiveness toward His people, especially the little ones. This is the way Jesus deals with His disciples. He guards them. If anyone wishes to destroy their spiritual lives, He will have His day with them. He will make sure that they will incur their punishment. This is why the Bible speaks so strongly against false teachers, because they're leading people astray to false ideas and to the allurement of sin. There are numerous places in the Bible where God speaks with this kind of severity. Let me give one example. It’s 1 Corinthians 3:17. It says this about the church of God, called the temple of God in this passage. It says, “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” The church of God is not to be messed with, especially the holiness of God's church. Anyone who brings in sinful ideas or sinful practices into the church, God will destroy them. No teacher in God’s church is to propagate anything but sound teaching that leads people to obedience to the Lord and to His righteousness. This is the way of Jesus Christ, and if anyone should ever lead believers astray to strange ideas and to harmful practices, they are going to receive a severe consequence from the Lord. Jesus expresses His displeasure against the stumbling blocks with the word “woe.” “Woe” is a word that expresses grief and denunciation. Jesus uses this word in verse 7 to denounce these stumbling blocks, “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes.” This is to say, the world is full of corruption. There are evil people in the world. And so stumbling blocks are inevitable, but He says the person who brings the influence of sin into God's church, especially to little children who believe, that person will incur a very particular judgment from the Lord. Jesus also shows us how aggressively we are to deal with stumbling blocks. And so in verses 8 and 9, He brings up the imagery that He used before in the Sermon on the Mount about the right hand and the right eye. But this time, He expands it to the hand, the foot, and the eye. He says, “If your hand or foot or eye (I'm summarizing all of this together) causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life crippled, lame, or blind, than to have two hands, two feet, and two eyes, and be cast into the eternal fire of hell.” Jesus means that we should take every measure to cut off sin from our lives. And we are to do so aggressively, removing every avenue of sin from our lives. And if the influences come through certain people, we are to throw them out of the church to maintain the purity of God’s church. In fact, this is exactly what Jesus teaches later in this chapter.
Then after this, Jesus once again talks about the little ones. He really cares for the little ones who believe in Him. They are dear to Him, and as their guardian, He says in verse 10, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” This might at first sound a little cryptic, but there's nothing mysterious about it. When it says that angels are continually looking at the face of God, Jesus means that angels are looking to God for His cue to go and minister to believers, even those children who believe. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 1:14 that angels are ministering spirits who serve believers, those who will inherit salvation. Jesus is saying there are angels in heaven who are looking at God and are waiting for Him to give them the directive to go and give those little ones God's aid. God really loves the little children who believe in Him, and no one should ever dare to stumble them in false ideas or sin. God has His angels on standby to come to their aid and to bring them His help.
There are lots of things to pray about with regard to this passage.
First, we need to have a childlike faith. And you know, when it comes to issues that are very personal in nature like this one, there's no way for me to give you an example of prayer. You must know your own heart, and if there is any skepticism or an attitude that questions God’s word in your heart, this is the time to confess that to the Lord. Seek to have a pure heart before the Lord. We are to have a pure and innocent faith that believes everything God has said in the Bible. And if you're unsure about the condition of your heart, you should ask the Lord to reveal this to you: “Lord, do I have a pure and innocent childlike faith, or am I full of doubt and skepticism toward You? Please show me.”
Secondly, we are to resist stumbling blocks. Again, this is something to personally contemplate before God: “God, are there stumbling blocks in my life? Are there things that I'm tripping over again and again? I don't need those things. I want more of You in my life. I want to live a holy and a righteous life that is bubbling over with Your joy and love. And if anything is getting in the way, I want to be rid of that.” That is what Jesus is teaching us to do. And you ought to tell the Lord, “I hear You. You're telling me to remove every stumbling block, and I am committed to doing this.”
Then finally, we ought never to promote or exemplify anything sinful or unbiblical that can ruin the minds and the behavior of others, especially children. Put that positively. The Lord wants us to be a great example for others. The little children at church that watch us, they should see in us men of faith and women of faith who know how to walk with God, who know how to honor Him and keep His word. We can ask the Lord to train us to become good examples. So, there are lots of important matters to pray about. So as you read the passage, think of these and pray to the Lord about them with an open heart.
Let me close us in prayer. God, thank You for Your holy word. Your Son brims over Your wisdom and truth. We thank You for Your great love for the little ones who wholeheartedly trust in Christ. That shows us what kind of heart Jesus has, and therefore what kind of heart You have. Thank You that You earnestly desire for us to steer away from every manner of sin and false ideas. I pray that You would grant to us the alertness to deal with every influence unto evil in our lives and that we would indeed cut off and pluck out every avenue of sin. May our lives be purified and thus become more and more useful to You for Your works. Keep us from ever becoming a stumbling block to anybody else. It would pain us to be a means of evil influence on others. Instead, by Your grace, through Your Spirit’s work in us, make us into great examples to those around us. Thank You for Jesus, who teaches us such valuable lessons for life and for eternal life. And if there be in any of our hearts skepticism and doubts about Your word that questions what You have spoken, God, please forgive us and grant to us a pure and innocent heart that trusts in You like a child. Thank You for Your holy word this morning. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Alright, thanks everyone. Lord bless you all and see you on Wednesday.